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Where to Eat in Alsace, Basel and Baden
People often ask me for recommendations on good places to eat in our neighbourhood – Alsace, Basel + environs, and Baden across the Rhine. The answer is always, “it depends…”: on the occasion (Sunday lunch? Romantic dinner? Girls’ lunch?); on your budget (cheapskate or the big splash?); on how far you’re prepared to drive etc. etc. I keep meaning to make a list. Nuff said, here it comes. Keep checking it out; this promises to be a work in progress. Sunday lunch
 Delicious village inn in the depths of the Sundgau owned and run by the Litzler family. Classic French food (epic Châteaubriand with béarnaise) and some creative dishes. Small, flower-decked terrace in summer.
 Owned and run by the formidable Ispa team (and ably abetted by the son of our neighbours, who's working in the kitchen), this village inn is always full of happy diners. Classic French cooking, lots of different menus (and wonderful puddings, left), reliably good, copiously and cheerfully served and excellent value for money. Look in on the serenely beautiful 12th century church just across the way while you're here.
 Feels like a ferme-auberge, out
in the middle of the fields between villages of Winkel and Lucelle,
with large shaded terrace and cosy wood-panelled dining room. The service is so friendly and efficient - even on a Sunday, when it's always packed - that you can forgive them the fact that both meat and veg. are usually overcooked and move swiftly on to classic Alsatian desserts like the meringue glacée, left. The sommelier makes a point of offering lesser known wines (at least for these Alsace hinterlands) e.g. a white blend from Planeta in Sicily or a sprightly Malbec from Catena Zapata in Argentina, both priced at under E30). Hotel with 30 rooms.
Romantic dinner/special occasion
Madame Giuggiola is in the dining room and her husband in the kitchen of this small, chic little resto in the centre of Hésingue. Tiny terrace out back for summer evenings, attentive service, a little pricey but worth it. Great pizza (and pasta and risotto)
 No bookings, but a great buzz and fab fast food here at this newly opened Basel branch of a German (really!) chain of Italian self-serve restaurants. Thin-crusted pizzas with original toppings, salads, house-made pastas and risottos all done to order. Interesting selection of wines by the glass (Italy, Spain, South Africa...) with samplings from the bar to aid your choice. Come late (lunch around 1.30, dinner after 9) and you've a better chance of finding a table. Good wine lists
Two formulas at this restaurant in a gracious old maison de maître hidden away in a rather surprising location close to Carrefour in Mulhouse’s southern suburb of Illzach: a smart restaurant serving lunch at midday (the plat du jour is a steal) and a tapas bar called La Bistronomie in the evenings. They are also wine merchants - get on their mailing list for info on their bi-annual wine tastings, when producers from all over come to present their wines.
 Disarmingly simple place in small village west of Mulhouse (just off N83 before it crosses the Mulhouse-Belfort motorway) known for its astonishing wine list, with local dishes cranked up a notch (foie gras, Baeckeoffe with foie and snails, choucroute with pike-perch). In the bistro at the front you can get a main dish and a glass of wine for a modest outlay; the smart(er) restaurant has full a la carte menu and the renowned wine list.
Across the street is the Rebstock, Tel. 07662 93 30 11, also owned by the Schwarzer Adler, serving simple, typically Badisch food (asparagus, ravioli, roast chicken…) and wines by the glass. Shaded interior courtyard for summer days. A juicy steak from the grill
 Family-owned and run inn on Folgensbourg's main street with large dining room and terrace. Forget the carpes frites, rather mystifyingly billed as the house speciality, go instead for one of their huge, succulent entrecôte, faux-filet or fillet steaks (sourced from Viande Cash in Hésingue), served with fat frites sizzling from the fryer and salad. Best Ferme-Auberge
 Drive
up here (via Kaysersberg, then into the Vosges), park the car and take off for a
long walk before embarking on a copious and delicious lunch in the
chalet-style dining room (right). The Chaize family raise all the meat
and grow many of the vegetables served in the Auberge. A delight in
winter with snow lying deep and crisp and even, or in summer for
spectacular views from the terrace out over the fields and down to the
valley.Modern bistro-style cooking
 Hervé Paulus got his first Michelin star in Hagenthal, then here in this small village south of Mulhouse at what used to be called Hostellerie Paulus. Then he tired of stardom, completely revamped the dining room and renamed the place Marmit & Ko, after the little marmites (cooking pots) in which many of the dishes are served. His cooking (bistro-style nowadays) is as good as ever but it’s got a new spring in its step – “I’m doing what I like, not running after the guides” he says.
 Jean-Luc Brendel’s resolutely funky neo-bistro is housed in a 14th-century timbered building conveniently placed just about opposite Hugel on Riquewihr’s main street. Grilled meat and shellfish from the rotisserie and wood-fired oven, interesting wines by the glass. A cut well above Riquewihr's usual offering of choucroute and tarte à l'oignon and one of the surprisingly rare places in Alsace to serve genuinely original food at sensible prices.
Good value for money
Go for bust
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